


Of Fairways and Friends

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-07-12
Updated: 2000-07-12
Packaged: 2019-05-15 20:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14797019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: She had never had a male friend like Josh before, but she would recommend one to any woman.





	Of Fairways and Friends

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

I bow to the powers that be at NBC who own the rights to WW and hope they don’t sue me.

An attempt to establish a relationship between CJ and Josh that we can all live with.

OF FAIRWAYS AND FRIENDS

Out of the corner of her eye, CJ Cregg watched Josh Lyman. He was slumped in a  
chair not even making an effort to appear attentive to what Leo was outlining in  
the morning senior staff meeting. She wondered if this could be the same man  
she had seen a picture of last week. In the photo Mandy had shown her, there  
was a tall man with tousled hair wearing nothing but a pair of dark green  
jogging shorts and a gorgeous golden-bronze tan. CJ had had to look twice to  
confirm that it was Josh. This hunched over, pale lump in the wing chair didn’t  
resemble that image at all. She also wondered when the last time was that Josh  
had eaten a real meal and when the last time was that he had slept more than  
four hours at a shot. She was worried about him. It’s natural to worry about  
someone you love, and Josh Lyman was the only man she could say that about at  
this point in her life. No, she didn’t love him in the physical sense, but in  
the pure, unadulterated way that only true friends can. There had never been  
any hot, sweaty scenes to muddy up their relationship; there was just a deep,  
abiding affinity between them. She was Queen Guenevere, and he was Sir Gawain,  
Arthur’s most loyal and trusted knight.

She had first met him when she joined the Barlet campaign. She, like everyone,  
liked him immediately. At the time, Josh had been involved with Mandy Hampton.  
The two of them usually had Zoe in tow, and the three of them formed an odd  
little family unit. It was obvious that Mandy wanted it all, and Josh was more  
than willing to give it to her; but that never seemed to be enough, and the  
relationship crashed and burned. Mandy wore her psychological scars like an  
honored badge, and CJ was pretty sure that Josh’s psyche had a few dents in it  
too, but he hid them deeply under his irrepressible personality. Mandy  
defaulted on the campaign and the relationship and left, but Josh still kept Zoe  
close to him because she needed an adult in all the hubbub, but not her own  
father. It had warmed CJ’s heart to see Josh play surrogate dad. She respected  
his political savvy, but it was his sweet marshmallow center that captured her  
heart.

The campaign trail was often a hard and lonely place, and CJ was feeling the  
pressures of her job. They were in a one-horse town in Texas somewhere, and she  
had spent the day snapping at anyone who came within shouting distance. When  
she stepped into her hotel room that evening, there was a movie ticket on her  
bed and a note that read, "The movie could be iffy, but the theater is air  
conditioned." There was also a map. She had no idea where the ticket had come  
from, but she thought, "Why the hell not?" She changed her clothes and went in  
search of the ubiquitous Bijou Theater. When she walked in, there stood Josh  
and Zoe with popcorn, Milk Duds, and Coca Cola. It was just the kind of thing  
she needed to revive her spirits.

Another time when she needed a diversion from her stressful life as the White  
House Press Secretary, she had gone home and found a big white box on her  
doorstep. Opening the box, she shook out a deep teal colored dress. It had a  
plunging V back and full swinging skirt that just touched her knees. The note  
simply read, "Pick you up at nine." She knew who it was from this time. She  
knew that Josh was an able student of the female form, but she was surprised  
that the dress fit perfectly; after all her tall female form was hard to fit.  
She’d been ready at nine, and they had spent the night swing dancing to the big  
band sounds of Glenn Miller.

And just a few short months ago, he had struck again. Josh had done the two  
o’clock press briefing because she had had to have an emergency root canal. He  
had botched it royally, and CJ had had to spend extra time repairing the damage  
he had done. Leo had come unglued, Toby had ripped into him, and the President  
had dressed him down; but CJ was still furious at him at the end of the day, and  
he knew it. When she stepped out of the door of her townhouse the next morning  
at 6:00 a.m., there was Josh leaning on the side of a big black stretch  
limousine with her favorite cinnamon coffee blend from Starbucks in his hand.  
"Your carriage awaits, Claudia Jean," he deadpanned. How could she stay mad?  
They spent a wonderful hour sampling muffins and croissants with delectable  
spreads as the chauffeur took them to work the long way.

From the time they first met, Josh had been her friend, and he seemed to know  
when she needed him. His overtures had always come with no expectations,  
repercussions, or guilt. They were just two close friends sharing time and  
space. Now it was her turn to try to bring him out of the funk that had settled  
over him after the assassination attempt. Boarding Air Force One for a fund  
raiser in San Francisco with the rest of the senior staff, CJ allowed a secret  
smile to reach her lips. She had enlisted Donna’s and the President’s help,  
called in favors, and used her influence to plan a little surprise for Josh.

At 8:00 a.m. on the morning after the fund-raiser, CJ picked up the phone and  
dialed Josh’s room  
"’Lo?" a sleep addled voice answered.  
"Morning, Josh."  
"’Sup, CJ?"  
"Do you trust me, Josh?"  
"Implicitly," he replied with no hesitation.  
"Good! You’ll find clothes in your closet. Grab a shower and meet me in my  
room in thirty minutes."  
"’Kay. CJ?"  
"Hm?"  
"We’ve missed the plane home. You planned this?"  
"Yup. Get moving."  
In half an hour, Josh, dressed in tan slacks and blue polo shirt, presented  
himself at her door. "Let’s go," she instructed. After a couple of short cab  
rides and a quick hop in a helicopter, they were standing on the first tee of  
the Pebble Beach golf course.  
"Oh, CJ....wow!.....this is......you shouldn’t.......how?.." Josh struggled to  
be coherent.  
"It’s okay, Josh. I have friends who have friends, and I’ve got a few  
connections too, you know. Let’s have fun."  
"I’m completely in your hands, CJ."  
They were outfitted with a cart which contained a cooler full of beverages and  
snacks, a shiny set of Ping golf clubs, and a couple of baseball caps with  
Pebble Beach Golf Club stitched on them. There were no other people in sight,  
and they dallied through the first three holes. Josh gave CJ some fundamental  
instructions on how to hold a club and read a green, and she hit a shot or two  
and drove the cart; but mostly she just enjoyed the greenness of the place, the  
cool sea breeze, and Josh’s company. The fourth hole was the first of the  
sea-side holes, and when they stepped on to the tee, CJ caught her breath at the  
magnificent vista in front of her. Having played since he was ten, Josh was a  
scratch golfer, and he was challenging himself to play well on the famed  
fairways. But he wasn’t taking himself too seriously, and they enjoyed the  
seals in the water and the people on the beach as they played the fourth through  
the tenth holes that hugged the shore line. The next six holes meandered back  
away from the water’s edge, and they laughed and talked to each other as they  
navigated the course. They were totally at ease with each other and revelled in  
the perfect day. Standing on the elevated seventeenth tee, CJ couldn’t see how  
Josh could keep the ball from sailing into the water when he hit it. She  
watched him pull a six iron from the bag and tee up the ball. He swung the club  
effortlessly through the ball, and she followed its graceful arch and heard it  
thump as it landed in the middle of the green. She looked at Josh in awe. He  
just grinned, shrugged, and said, "practice." CJ thought the eighteenth hole  
was by far the most spectacular one on the course. The tee was actually built  
out into the ocean. She smiled as Josh once again teed the ball, took the long  
driver from the bag , and sized up the shot. At the last minute, he turned his  
body a quarter of a turn and launched the ball into the bay, laughing like a  
kid. Holing out on the green, Josh grabbed CJ and gave her a hug. "This has  
been one of the most memorable days of my life. I’m glad I shared it with you."  
"I’m glad I could make it happen," she replied returning his embrace.  
"Not to throw a damper on the party, CJ, but when do we have to be back in  
Washington?"  
"The President expects us at the 9:00 a.m. senior staff meeting in the morning,  
and we’re booked on an 8:00 p.m. flight out of San Francisco tonight."  
Groaning at the prospect and looking at his watch, Josh saw that it was just  
4:00 p.m. and insisted on springing for an early dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Later, sitting in first class of the eastbound Delta 767, CJ perused the  
sleeping form of Josh next to her. His face had an extra bit of a color to it  
from the day in the sun, and some of the lines that had been creasing his face  
lately were gone. She marveled at how she could spend time with this man and  
not have to ply her feminine wiles and stroke his male ego and play the games  
that men and women play. She had never had a male friend like Josh before, but  
she would recommend one to any woman. She smiled and closed her eyes, hoping to  
sleep. After this therapeutic interlude, it was back to the grind tomorrow.

The End

  


End file.
